Bronzeville Redevelopment and Foreclosure: What Impact Has Condominium Conversion Had on the Bronzeville Neighborhood?

Eugenia M. Orr, Olivet Nazarene University

Ed.D. dissertation completed in 2012 for Olivet Nazarene University.

Abstract

This study investigated the foreclosure crisis of 2007 and the subsequent decline in property values in the Bronzeville neighborhood where condominium conversion and construction was prevalent as a means to implement gentrification or urban renewal. This study sought to explain whether high rates of condominium ownership constituted a gentrifying neighborhood, in the face of high rates of foreclosure. Secondarily, did high foreclosure rates, decreased property values and vacancy create a neighborhood requiring re-gentrification coupled with a cap of the number of condominiums constructed and converted in the Bronzeville neighborhood.